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Developing a protocol

Developing a protocol

Once your title has been registered you can begin working on the protocol for your review.

The protocol is the outline of the systematic review you are planning to conduct and you can use it as a template to guide you through writing the review. It sets out what you propose to do, how you intend to deal with expected findings and how you will deal with unexpected problems.

You will be sent a confirmation e-mail after your title is registered, giving information about how to use Archie and RevMan, the software used for preparing Cochrane reviews. These and other resources for authors are available here.

Your title will have been given a reference number which stays with your review at protocol, review and update stage – please use this number in all correspondence with the editorial base.

You will be given a deadline for submitting the protocol. When you submit your protocol for editorial approval, please ensure that your submission is of publishable standard and suitable for peer review by experts in the field.

Contributorship statement - the contact author should complete a contributorship form, detailing the individual contributions made by each member of the author team. This will be sent to the Contact author by the editorial base, usually at peer referee stage, or is available to download.